Autologous progenitor cell implantation as a novel therapeutic intervention for alopecia areata

Background alopecia areata (aa) is a t cell-mediated autoimmune disease resulting in partial or total nonscarring hair loss. there is no satisfactory treatment available till date. objective to navigate a new therapeutic option using follicular stem cells to treat aa. patients and methods eight patients were included in this study, each underwent scalp biopsy, in which scalp tissue was cut into small pieces and the lower third of the hair follicle and hair were digested using trypsin–edta. single cell suspension was prepared. the expression of s100 a4 was used as a marker for follicular stem cells. cells were suspended in 5 ml sterile saline and injected intradermally at multiple sites of the affected scalp of included patients. degree of response was graded as follows: excellent response if there was an improvement of 50% or more, good response if the improvement was less than 50–10%, and poor response if the improvement was less than 10%. results excellent response was achieved in five patients (62.5%), good response was achieved in two patients (25%), whereas one patient (12.5%) showed poor response at the end of 6 months evaluation. conclusion this is the first open-label pilot study that shows the feasibility, efficacy, and short-term safety of local follicular stem cell therapy for aa.